Navratilova wipes court with Bulgarian opponent

Press, 7 September 1989, Page 40

Navratilova wipes court with Bulgarian opponent

NZPA-Reuter New York Martina Navratilova, with the help of some sorry tennis by Manuela Maleeva, yesterday romped to the most onesided victory at this stage in the United States Open championships in 60 years. Navratilova blew by the Bulgarian 6-0, 6-0 in just 46 minutes on the Stadium court, with Maleeva playing like she belonged on one of the remote courts playing a qualifying match. The last time a woman failed to win at least one game at a later stage in the tournament was in 1929 when Helen Wills took apart Molla Mallory in the semi-finals. Navratilova was all over Maleeva, rushing the net at will and putting shot after shot away, with

Maleeva missing even the easy ones. “I pressured her at the start and she started making errors she wouldn’t have,” Navratilova said. Navratilova’s semi-final opponent will be Zina Garrison, who ended Chris Evert’s Grand Slam tennis career 7-6 (7-1), 6-2 yesterday. The crowd and a part of Navratilova had hoped for a Hollywood ending to Evert’s career with a match between Navratilova and Evert. The two have been friendly foes for 16 years, Evert, aged 34, reached down to come back from 0-2 to force a tiebreaker in the first set, but Garrison won that 7-1. In the second set, Evert missed shots that she would have put away'with ease earlier in her career. “It was hard for me to do

anything as far as putting the ball away because she was just so quick around the court,” Evert said. Women’s singles, quarterfinals: 5-Zina Garrison (U.S.) beat 4-Chris Evert (U.S.) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; 2-Martina Navratilova (U.S.) beat 7-Manuela Maleeva (Bulgaria) 6-0, 6-0. Men’s doubles quarterfinals: 7-Mark Woodforde (Australia)/John McEnroe (U.S.) bt 1-Rick Leach/Jim Pugh (U.S.) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 7-6 (7-4); 4-Ken Flach/Robert Seguso (U.S.), beat Glenn Layendecker/Richie Reneberg (U.S.) 6-0, 6-0, 6-3. Women’s doubles, quarterfinals: Elna Reinach (South Africa)/Nicole Provis (Australia) beat 2-Larisa Savchenko/Natalia Zvereva (Soviet Union) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (74); 9-Steffi Graf (West Germany)/Gabriela Sabatini (Argentina) beat Gigi Fernandez (Puerto Rico)/Robin White (U.S.) 7-5, 6-2; 5-Mary Joe Femandez/Pam Shriver (U.S.) bL Kathy Jordan and Betsy Nagelsen (U.S.) 7-6 (74), 6-4.